Hadn't though about tanker traffic disruptions. Off La. the big boys don't usually come into port anyway. There's an offshore transfer system they'll tie off to and unload. I'm sure it shuts down just like the platforms. The tankers can try to scoot around the storms but they may not always be able to avoid a fast storm. I don't know but I would bet they keep them out of the Gulf when a big one is coming. I doubt they reroute them very far unless there is a long term disruptions...those big boys burn a lot of fuel when they're loaded. As far as TX goes I'm not sure the big ones come up thru the bay. I vaguely remember hearing that they transfer to smaller tankers offshore. Living within sound of the tanker horns you'd think I'd know for sure (I live across the highway from the biggest refinery in the US)

Far-fetched example?

Imagine a VLCC with a broken rudder being helplessly storm wave pushed towards the Thunderhorse Platform. The seafloor is too deep for any anchoring. The owner of that ship would be money ahead to evacuate the crew, then have the USAF sink the ship BEFORE it hits Thunderhorse. It would still make a hell of a mess, but far less of a mess than having a mega-tanker repeatedly bashing into a mega-platform until both sunk.

San Francisco did the same strategy after their 1906 earthquake: explode housing to try and create a firebreak to halt the firestorm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake
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...Worst of all, many were set when firefighters untrained in the use of dynamite attempted to dynamite buildings to create firebreaks, which resulted in the destruction of more than half of buildings that would have otherwise survived.[9] The fire chief, who would have been responsible, had died in the initial quake. The dynamited buildings themselves often caught fire. The fires lasted for four days and nights...
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